


Sonic Forces: Diamond Squad

by Troublethecat



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Multiple Rookies, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fix-It, Gadget Has The Biggest Crush On Sonic And Everyone Knows, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Sonic is only pretending to be okay, Tails is with the resistance from the start, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 21:51:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13556295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Troublethecat/pseuds/Troublethecat
Summary: Gadget the Wolf hadn't wanted to join the resistance. A coward like him could only get in their way. So when the kidnapping of a major benefactor for the resistance leads to him getting involved in a rescue mission to save not only him but the previously missing and presumed dead Sonic the Hedgehog, Gadget is shocked to not only end up joining anyway but to somehow be appointed the leader of his own squad.Now he must rise to the occasion and overcome his own insecurities to ensure his ragtag team of fellow rookies' survival against the Eggman Empire, all while attempting to gain the respect of the resistance's more senior members and facing off against the Egg Army's powerful, intimidating and mysterious Supreme Commander, who might be more familiar to him than he first believes. Fortunately, he has friends to help him, including and especially Sonic. (Alternate Universe Semi-Rewrite of Sonic Forces)





	Sonic Forces: Diamond Squad

**Author's Note:**

> Right, so. Here we go. This is the first time I've posted anything on this website even though I've had an account for a while. It's also the first time in a long time I've submitted anything to a fanfiction archive. I will be doing my best to actually finish this thing, so please leave kudos and comments. Comments are especially appreciated. I want to know what you like or don't like about it and if I made any mistakes.

"Are you sure we can't convince you to come with us?" Fuchsia asked again, running a gloved hand through the pink fur on her head and frowning.

She and her friend, the green parrot Corvin, were standing around with their other close friend Gadget in his workshop. Gadget had his back to them. The young orange-red wolf in glasses was bent over a workbench tinkering with the wrist mounted grappling cable he'd invented a while ago, making adjustments to it.

"Yeah." The wolf said dully, not even sparing them a glance as he continued to work.

Corvin made a frustrated noise. "What? You're just going to rot in here? It's not like you can continue to live the simple quiet life the way things are now."

"No one can afford that." Fuchsia agreed. She placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head, studying the other as he continued to show them his back. "Eggman's taken over practically everything at this point. Soon there's not going to be anywhere for anyone to hide anymore. We need to fight back!"

"But what good would I do?" The wolf countered, still not looking at them. "You two both know how to fight, but I don't. All know how to do is fix things."

Corvin rolled his eyes. "The resistance could probably use guys like that too, if we're perfectly honest here. I'll bet they have a hard time keeping their equipment in working order too."

"And that's a lie anyway." Fuchsia gestured to the workbench. "What about that grapple cable thing of yours?" 

"It's not anything that impressive..."

She facepalmed. "Ugh. You're not still depressed over running from that masked monster that took down Sonic, are you?"

"..." Gadget bowed his head, ears drooping.

"Seriously?" Corvin narrowed his eyes at him. "There's nothing cowardly about running from that guy. It's smart! He took down Sonic the Hedgehog like it was nothing! I know I would've run from that."

"... I still don't think I'm going to be much use." 

At that point Corvin just let out a sigh of frustration and turned to Fuchsia. "Okay, fine, if you're gonna be like that. C'mon Fuchsia."

"But-!"

Whatever Fuchsia was about to say was cut off by Gadget's cell phone ringtone. Even the sullen mechanic's head shot up at the sound. That specific ringtone was the one that belonged to Gadget's mother. Gadget's mother worked as a maid in the house of the richest man in town, Diamond the Poodle, the owner of Diamond's Jewellers. Normally she didn't call from work unless it was important. Gadget couldn't help but have a bad feeling.

Putting down his tools, Gadget picked up the cell phone and answered it. "Mom? What is it?"

"Gadget. I'm sorry, but something truly terrible has happened." The woman on the other end took a deep breath, clearly doing her best to remain calm. "Master Diamond has been arrested as a resistance collaborator. Apparently he has been secretly funding them for some time now."

Gadget's eyes widened, "What? Are you okay, mom?" He knew there had to be more to it than that.

"Eggman's army is outside the manor right now. They've come to take his daughter Mistress Pearl too. I know your friends have been talking about joining the resistance. I need you to contact them and get their help."

His grip on the phone tightened. "But, will they even be able to help in time?"  
Fuchsia and Corvin glanced at each other worriedly. They couldn't hear what the other half of the conversation was, but it didn't sound good.

"The manor's security team should be able to hold them off for a little while. Please, just hurry." 

There was the sound of an explosion in the background and Gadget's mother hissed. "I have to go. I love you."

"Mom, wait!" But his mother hung up before he could say anything else. Gadget slowly lowered the phone from his ear.

"What happened?" Fuchsia asked, worriedly. "Is Mrs. Wolf alright?" 

Gadget took a deep breath and let it out sharply before turning back to his workbench and grabbing his grappling cable. "Mr. Diamond's been captured by Eggman. And now they're attacking the manor to take his daughter too."

The other two drew back at that. "Shoot." Corvin muttered. "That's no good at all. What are we gonna do?"

"Mom said to contact the resistance." Gadget put the device on his wrist, and turned to grab a laser pistol off the wall. "Do you know how to do that?"

"Yeah, but," The parrot paused as he noticed what Gadget was doing. "Wait, you're not going down there, are you?" 

"Mom's in danger! I can't stay here." He started towards the door. His two friends stared after him.

"Whoa, whoa, wait! Are you crazy?" Corvin shouted after the other, "You don't have any combat training. What makes you think you can take a bunch of Eggman's robots on your own?" 

He glanced at his companion, "C'mon Fuchsia. Talk some sense into this guy."  
Fuchsia grabbed a gun of her own and ran after him. "I'm going too!" 

"What-? Wait!" Corvin sighed. "Jeez. Whatever happened to not thinking he can do anything?"

Corvin also grabbed a weapon and ran after them. He figured if they were going to do something stupid, he could at least contact the resistance so they'd have backup. 

\-----------

Gadget was almost at the manor when his common sense finally caught up with him, and when it did, he stopped short, panicking for a completely different reason. What was he thinking, rushing off to fight Eggman's robots like this? Corvin was right. He really didn't know what he was doing. He should let the resistance handle it... but what if they didn't come in time? What was he going to do?

He hid behind the nearest building, his mind whirling as he tried to figure out how to handle this. Ugh, he was so stupid. He was being a coward again. If he left now, wouldn't that be just like when he ran away from that masked creature? He had to do something. But what?

"Gadget!" A familiar voice hissed next to him, making him nearly jump out of his skin. It was Fuchsia. 

"F-Fuchsia!" Gadget exclaimed, though he kept his voice down. He put a hand to his chest as he turned to her. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry." Fuchsia leaned on the wall next to him, "I wasn't going to let you go alone. We should think of a plan about how to save your mom and the other people in there." She jerked her head over in the direction of the manor, which was still a few blocks away from where they were standing.

"A plan? Uh, right..." Yeah, they definitely needed to think about what they were going to do first (instead of rushing off like idiots like he already did). 

At that moment, Corvin joined them. "I really don't know what I'm going to do with you two." He sighed, "I contacted the resistance and told them what's up, but it'll take a while for them to get there. Apparently their forces that are nearby are a bit tied up other things." 

"So, we'll definitely have to do something about this." Fuchsia frowned and turned back to Gadget. "You have any ideas?"

"W-why are you asking me?" The wolf asked nervously. 

"You know that place better than us. Your mom works there after all, and I know you've been there before." Fuchsia pointed out.

"Not often enough to know that place too well..."

"It's still more information than we have." Corvin shrugged.

Gadget bowed his head, ears drooping. "M-maybe we should try getting closer to the manor so we can see what's going on there first."

The other two nodded. "Alright. Lead the way."  
At the manor, as the battle between manor security and the egg robots raged on, a lone shadowy figure slunk around the upper floors, attempting to avoid detection by residents and robots alike. It paused just next to a window and carefully took a peek out at the courtyard below. 

The figure was a male black rabbit in a dark gray jumpsuit dappled with patches of paler greys and white. He wore blue gloves with artfully torn edges and lighter blue fingers and black and white sneakers and the lower half of his face was hidden by a white grated mask.

Business had been going pretty well for Blake the rabbit until now. Oh sure, the mighty Sonic the Hedgehog had finally fallen, a certain egg-shaped bastard had finally conquered the world and now there was a resistance movement fighting a desperate war to get their world back, but for enterprising young men like himself, the chaotic state of the world right now was virtually a thieves’ paradise. Of course, that also meant the world was a pretty dangerous place right now. He honestly wasn’t surprised a cozy little place like this that had mostly managed to escape being directly affected by the war hadn’t managed to stay safe for long. The rich and powerful might be able to afford more protection than the average joe, but that didn’t count for much against a madman with a robot army, especially if the rumors he heard about the old dog being a resistance sympathizer, and possibly more, were true. He just wished the Egg Pawns could’ve at least waited to show up here until after he’d had a chance to help himself to Diamond’s fortune. Just his luck. 

The battle didn’t look like it was going well at all for the manor security team. It’d only be a matter of time before they were crushed. The black rabbit moved away from the window and started down the hall again. No amount of money was worth sticking around much longer, so he’d just call this job off. He’d have to sneak out while everyone was distracted before the Egg pawns had a chance to actually break into the mansion. 

Just as he was making his way towards his escape route, his sharp ears picked up an odd sound and the thief silently drew back into the shadows. It sounded like several people were trying to make their way down the hall toward him, doing a terrible job at being stealthy about it. Was he not the only thief here after all? Or maybe some of the staff were trying to make a break for it too.

Around the corner came three mobians who looked somewhere around his own age. Maybe a little younger. The first was a male orange-red wolf with big dorky glasses with black square rims and fairly standard white gloves and orange shoes. He seemed pretty stressed as he paused to take in his surroundings, naturally failing to spot Blake in his hiding spot. The amateur. 

One of his companions, a pink cat in a black sleeveless top and purple plaid skirt with bike shorts, sturdy brown boots, and armored brown gloves, put a hand on the wolf’s shoulder. “Where do you think they are?” She asked him.

The wolf took a deep breath and slowly let it out again as he thought. “I think… Mom should be with Miss Pearl somewhere near where her rooms are. It should be on this floor.”

The third member of their group, a green parrot in a black t-shirt with a green double arrow symbol and camo pants, black fingerless gloves, and black sneakers, glanced out the window that Blake had looked out of a few moments ago and made a face. “We’d better hurry then. Looks like those robots are going to be busting in on us soon.”

Blake just watched from his spot as the trio started off again. What was that about the wolf’s mom? Were they actually planning on trying to rescue people here? Were they nuts? There was no way those three kids were going to be able to stand up to those tin cans any better than the security team. 

Well, if they wanted to go and get themselves killed, it really wasn’t any of Blake’s business. Blake was a thief, not a hero. He liked keeping his hide intact. He’d just leave while he still could, just like he originally intended to. Maybe those idiots would give him a better chance of getting away before the robots noticed him.

....

Against his better judgment and over his own mental protests, the rabbit thief quietly after the three.

\----

“How dare he! Of all the nerve of that horrible slovenly scientist!” The lady of Diamond Manor, Pearl the Poodle, was not having a good day at all, needless to say. “Who does he think he is? Imprisoning my father and attacking our family home! Doesn’t he know who my father is? Once this is over, I’m going to give that overweight ponce a piece of my mind!”

Jenna the wolf sighed, pushing her wire-frame glasses back against her face. “Mistress Pearl, please calm yourself. I don’t believe the good doctor cares who your father is, considering he’s already taken over most of the world.”

“Hmph!” The lavender poodle girl stopped pacing and turned sharply to the maid. “He’s still getting above himself. He doesn’t have the right to be doing any of what he’s done recently. That’s why daddy was helping the resistance in the first place. Who could possibly think they can just rule the world however they want?”

Then she caught sight of herself in the mirror on the vanity and was quickly distracted from her rage. “Oh dear. Now my fur is a mess.” She paused to preen herself, re-adjusting the blue bow on her head and smoothing out her white and blue Lolita dress. “Are all the other servants alright Jenna? How is the security team fairing?”

“The other servants are frightened but otherwise fine.” Jenna replied, “A few of them have been talking of trying to escape, although I do not know how they intend to do any such a thing. Fortunately, they have yet to attempt anything so foolish. As for the security team…”

She glanced at the door worriedly. “I am uncertain whether they will last long enough for the resistance to arrive here. The battle does not seem to be going well at all.”

Pearl frowned as she continued primping. “I would hope they should last longer than that, considering how much daddy paid for them.”

“That they lasted as long as they have is a miracle in itself.” The maid pointed out.

Pearl sighed. “Then the resistance had best hurry and get here. Daddy’s done a lot to help them and I should think they would be grateful enough to help us in turn.”

“I’m sure they’ll come as quickly as they can, but they’re spread rather thin right now.” Jenna paused briefly before continuing. “Mistress, what should we do if they don’t come in time?”

Pearl paused in her preening to glance over at her maid. The truth was that Pearl was rather more frightened than she was letting on, but a proper lady needed to keep a level head for the sake of those who depended on her. And with her mother gone, she was the lady of the house. 

“I… really do not know. But I’m sure we’ll figure something out. We mustn't give up yet! I’m sure that help will arrive shortly.”

At that moment, someone knocked at the door. “Mom? Are you in there?” An unfamiliar boy’s voice asked quietly. 

Jenna’s head shot up immediately, clearly startled and then the maid quickly walked over to the door and opened it. “Gadget? What on earth are you doing here?”

Pearl moved away from the vanity to get a better look at their intruders, and sure enough, at the front of the trio standing outside the door was a boy around her own age who looked unmistakably like Jenna’s son (indeed, he rather took after her in looks). Actually, now that Pearl thought of it, she might have seen him before, but it had to be some time ago since she couldn’t quite remember when. She’d never really strayed far from the manor before. She didn’t, however, recognize his two companions at all. 

The wolf boy, Gadget, fidgeted. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t stay at home while you were in trouble, mom. And we did call the resistance, but it seemed like they wouldn’t be able to get here in time...”

The cat nodded, “Yeah, so we came here to help you.”

The bird just shrugged, “About as much as we can anyway.”

Jenna looked like she was about to start scolding them, but Pearl was so impressed she spoke up before her maid could do more than frown disapprovingly. 

“My! You lot are certainly all brave coming out here all by yourselves.” She beamed at them. “So you’ve come to rescue us? Brilliant! I’m quite certain that the rest of household will be relieved to know that we won’t have to deal with those horrid robots outside for much longer.”

Gadget blinked owlishly at her. “U-um…” 

The cat looked a little surprised too for a moment. “I don’t know if the three of us could take those things on our own, so we were hoping to avoid actually fighting them as much as we can.”

Jenna frowned. “And what exactly did you intend to do?”

“We thought we could try to find a way to sneak everyone out while they were still outside.” The bird replied.

At that moment, an explosion shook the house. Pearl turned towards the sound. “Oh! That sounded like it came from the main hall. You don’t suppose they’ve gotten in, do you?”

The trio of newcomers also turned towards the sound. The bird groaned. “Great. Now what?”

\----

At this point, Gadget began to panic again. This really hadn’t been a well thought out plan at all, had it? So much for not rushing in like idiots, but then they hadn’t had much time to lose. Not that that made Gadget feel better. They might have to fight after all, but could they actually do that? They were just three normal teenagers against robots who had already taken out the manor’s security team. 

“I-I guess we’ll have to find a way to stall them until the resistance gets here.” He said finally. That was their only chance, really. The original plan had been a terrible plan, but they could still salvage this, right? He certainly couldn’t run this time when mom needed him and he’d dragged his friends into this mess too.

Fuchsia nodded and started to run off down the hall. “Right! C’mon you guys!” 

“Fuchsia!” Gadget called after her, but of course, it was no use. He turned back to his mother and Pearl. “Mom, Miss Pearl, please stay here. We’ll… do what we can.” And then he started off after Fuchsia, a reluctant Corvin on his heels.  
“Gadget! Wait! ” Jenna called after her son, clearly sounding worried, but Gadget didn’t look back. They didn’t have time to waste. 

“How exactly do you plan on stalling those things?” Corvin asked as they caught up with Fuchsia.

Gadget couldn’t help but wonder why in the world Corvin kept asking him these things. Still, he wracked his brain for a moment, trying to come up with something. “Uh... There’s a lot of them, but I think we should have an advantage indoors, since these corridors are too cramped for them to come after us all at once, right?”

Corvin nodded, “So we just gotta do our best to take advantage of that. There’s probably not as many as there were before thanks to the security team. So hopefully this shouldn’t be too hard if we play our cards right.”

“R-right.” Gadget gulped. He really did hope Corvin was right.

It wasn’t too long before they heard the sound of robots marching towards them and the trio stopped and pressed their backs against the wall, where it sounded like they were right around the corner. 

Fuchsia turned to look at the two boys behind her and raised her laser gun. “I’ll take point, you guys back me up.” 

The other two nodded, also preparing their guns.

“Okay, on three. One, two-” Fuchsia leaped out of her hiding spot and started blasting at the closest egg pawn. Corvin and Gadget followed her lead. 

A couple of them went down in a few hits and they quickly started to fire back, but the trio all managed to avoid getting hit. As Gadget had thought, the corridor being more narrow did make it more difficult for all of the robots to fire on them at once without risking hitting each other, which did give them an advantage. However, this hall was a bit wider than the one they’d come out of, with decorative columns space throughout it and a statue placed here and there. That gave the trio both room to move and places to hide behind if necessary.

There were a lot of them, with more coming, and the Egg Pawns weren’t the only foes to deal with. 

As Gadget ducked behind a column, he looked up just in time to notice a buzz bomber taking aim at Corvin. “Corvin! Behind you!” 

The parrot looked up and cursed, throwing himself out of the way just quickly enough to avoid the bolt, but only barely. It still ended up grazing him. He aimed upward and shot at the insect-shaped bot. “Shit! There’s still a lot of these things.”

“We need to take these things down quicker!” Fuchsia moved closer to where Corvin was, blasting a few more egg pawns. As it was it took more than one hit to take down a single bot. No wonder the security team had so much trouble. Even with the columns to hide behind for cover, it wasn’t going to be easy at all.

Gadget was starting to get nervous again, as he leaned out from his hiding place to fire a few shots himself. They seemed like they’d managed to take down a few, but it looked like more were coming. Could they really do this with just the three of them?

As he thought this, another buzz bomber came up behind the young wolf in his hiding place. Just as it was about to take a shot at him while he was still distracted, a black blur shot seemingly from nowhere and took it down a pair of large daggers.

Gadget turned, startled, as the bomber went down in a heap of scrap. His savior was a black rabbit with a white mask covering the lower half of his face. “You kids all have a death wish, don’t you?” The stranger said. 

“What the-?” Fuchsia turned her head to look at the newcomer but quickly had to duck out of the way of another laser bolt from an Egg Pawn. “Who the hell are you?!” 

“Just a guy who happened to be nearby.” The rabbit replied. He darted over to an Egg Pawn and tore through it with his dagger. “Physical attacks are more effective against these pieces of junk than those blasters, by the way.”

“Too bad me and Gadget aren’t very useful for close quarter combat…” Corvin grumbled as he just continued blasting.

Fuchsia just growled and threw a roundhouse kick to a nearby egg pawn, before blasting it. “You’d think it’d be the other way around.”

As he watched the others fight, Gadget’s ears drooped as he sunk down to the floor. Their mysterious helper showing up like he did was fortunate, but it also made him feel like he really wasn’t helping at all. Corvin was right. He didn’t know how to fight like that. He barely knew how to use the blaster. And there were still so many. At this rate, even with the rabbit’s help, he doubted they’d last long enough for the resistance to arrive. If only there was something he could do.

The rabbit had said that physical attacks were more effective than the blasters, Gadget didn’t really know any physical combat moves. The only thing he had going for him besides the blaster was… 

Gadget looked down at his wrist-mounted grappling cable. He’d used it to help them get into the manor, but was there a way it could help them now? The cable could attach to any surface. There had to be plenty of ways he could use it for more than just getting to out of reach places, right? But, how-?

An image flashed through his mind of video footage he’d once seen on watching Sonic fight Eggman’s robots on the news. Sonic using his famous Homing Attack. It sounded crazy, but maybe if he...

Gadget stood up, looking around, he raised his wrist and aimed at the nearest Egg Pawn. Firing a cable at it, he quickly reeled himself toward it he used the momentum to deliver a kick to it with both feet. 

Surprisingly, this actually worked and the Egg Pawn went down in a heap of scrap. The rabbit whistled. “Nice move kid. I guess I underestimated you.”

Fuchsia and Corvin were both momentarily stunned. “Whoa, Gadget, I didn’t know you could do that.” Corvin blinked in surprise. 

Gadget didn’t reply. His confidence bolstered by the success of this move, he turned his attention to the other Egg Pawns and repeated the action, taking out another buzz bomber that had been aiming at Corvin. “We need to keep going!” He shouted to them. “Don’t let any of them through!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” The rabbit turned his attention back to the fight. 

The fight wore on for a while longer. As it turned out, Gadget’s new technique took out the robots surprisingly quickly once he’d gotten the hang of it, but there were still more coming and the four teens were still flesh and blood so they did eventually start to wear out.

“How many of these things are there?” Fuchsia complained. 

“I knew it was a bad idea to get involved.” The rabbit grumbled, panting. 

“Where the hell are the resistance?!” Corvin growled. 

“They have to be on their way,” Gadget replied, though his anxiety was beginning to creep up again. Being the least experienced of the four, he really didn’t know if he could keep this up much longer. “We just… have to hold on a little longer.” 

Just as the remaining Egg Pawns and Buzz bombers were beginning to close in on the four teens, a new source of blaster fire came from behind the robots, bombarding them as a group of resistance fighters charged into the corridor. Leading them was a familiar purple chameleon, who charged ahead as his unit provided cover fire to take down the pawns closest to the teens with several well-placed shuriken.

Espio of the Chaotix Detective Agency landed gracefully in front of the group before straightening. “Are you four alright?” 

“Could be better, but could be worse.” Corvin replied, “It’s about time you guys got here!”

“Don’t relax just yet.” Espio turned his attention to the fight. “My troops have managed to take out most of the invading force, but we still need to clean up the rest.”

Fortunately, it didn’t take that much longer after the resistance joined the fight for the rest of Eggman’s robots to be destroyed.

“Is that all of them?” Espio asked Amy over the communicator, as a medic moved over to examine the group they’d just rescued. 

“I don’t detect any more enemy signatures in your location. Looks like the whole force has been wiped out.” Amy replied. 

“Good. I’ll report back to base once I’ve checked the status of Miss Pearl and the other civilians. Espio out.” He ended the communication then turned to the two nearest soldiers, a female blue jay in green camo with combat boots and a military grade helmet and a male yellow cat in a brown sailor shirt with a similar helmet.

“Private Soda, I need you to go find Miss Pearl. Let her know that help has arrived and bring her here. Private Flynn, take a few of our people and find the servants quarters, I want you to check on their status.” The pair saluted and ran off to carry out their orders. Once that was taken care of, he turned his attention to the four teens they’d found fighting Eggman’s forces.

Gadget had slumped to the ground as soon as it was clear they were safe, shaking like a leaf and gasping for breath. He couldn’t believe they’d actually survived and won that fight.

The concerned medic, a female green bear, knelt down next to him. “Are you quite alright dear.”

Gadget was never very good at talking to people he’d never met before, so he wasn’t even able to meet the medic’s eyes as he nodded. “Y-yes ma’am. I’m not... hurt or anything. J-just tired.”

“Hmm…” The medic just narrowed her eyes suspiciously as she looked the wolf over for injuries just in case. This just made him shift nervously.

Luckily Fuchsia decided to speak up. “Corvin’s the only person who got injured, amazingly enough.” She said, nudging the bird. “A buzz bomber grazed his shoulder.”

“Hey, it’s not that bad.” He protested. But now the medic’s attention was focused on him instead.

“Don’t you give me that young man. If it isn’t patched up properly it won’t heal right. Now come over here.” She opened her medical kit.

“Right, right. I know.” Corvin sighed and did as instructed, letting the medic treat him.

Blake, meanwhile, decided that maybe now was the time to try to slip away while everyone was occupied with clean up. 

Unfortunately for him, it was that moment when Private Soda came back to join the group accompanied by Jenna and Pearl. Jenna immediately rushed over to them. 

“Gadget!” The maid knelt down next to her son, “Are you alright?”

“I’m okay mom.” He said again, starting to stand up again now that he wasn’t shaking so much. His mother helped him to his feet, then she rounded on the Fuchsia and Corvin, frowning at the entire group.

“What were all of you thinking? You could’ve gotten yourselves killed!” The she-wolf scolded.

“It’s not like we could’ve just let those Egg Pawns come in and take you guys who knows where Mrs. Wolf.” Fuchsia pointed out.

“Fuchsia’s right mom.” Gadget said looking up, “And, uh, we’re fine, more or less, so… I’m sorry for worrying you.” He looked down at the floor. He really hadn’t meant to worry his mother, but he couldn’t just stand by when she was in danger either. She was right to be mad though. They’d been very lucky that Espio and his unit had arrived when they did.

Jenna sighed. “Just don’t be so reckless next time. You’re all I have Gadget. I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you.”

“Sorry.” The young wolf’s ears drooped, but then he looked up again, “But, you know, it’s the same for you mom.” 

Jenna paused at that, but before she could speak again, Corvin interrupted. 

“No need to be so hard on him, Mrs. W.” He said, “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have lasted long enough for the resistance to get here.”

“Really now?” Pearl walked over from where she’d been talking to Espio, “Goodness, you must’ve been quite dashing. I wished I’d been there to see it.”

Gadget blushed and looked down again, “Ah, i-it wasn’t really that…”

“Yes, it was,” Fuchsia interrupted him, “That move you did with your grappling cable was really cool! It kinda reminded me of that homing attack Sonic the hedgehog could do. Is that how you came up with it?” 

Espio hmm’d a thoughtful look crossing the chameleon’s face. “That does sound rather impressive.”

“Ah…” Gadget didn’t know how to respond to that. He’d never been very good at handling praise and everyone focusing their attention on him like this was embarrassing. He hadn’t really done that much, had he? He’d been able to contribute to the fight, but he wouldn’t have thought of it in the first place if it hadn’t been for-

Pearl suddenly turned her attention to Blake, who had been in the process of attempting to sneak away again. “Oh! I don’t remember seeing you with these fine people when they came to my rooms. Just who might you be?”

Blake froze for a moment, before turning to wave her off. “That’s not important. I’ve done my part here, so I figure I oughta move on.”

Corvin narrowed his eyes. “You sure seem to be in a hurry to make an exit.” He said suspiciously, “Just what were you doing in here anyway?” 

As everyone turned their attention towards the rabbit, Gadget also looked up to watch him, relieved that he was no longer the center of attention. The rabbit raised his hands in front of him and took a step back.

“Hey, no need to be so untrusting Feathers. I did help you guys out, didn’t I? I was in the area and saw you guys looked like you were having trouble with those tin cans so I-” 

As he backed up, he was so focused on everyone else that he didn’t notice in time to avoid bumping into a resistance soldier behind him. “Wh-? Shit!” The collision caused something shiny to fall out of his pocket.

Espio stared down at the object and raised an eye ridge. “So you thought you might help yourself to a few souvenirs?” He supplied.

Blake’s ears fell. “Uh, well-”

Pearl was outraged. “Ah! You thief! That’s one of my grandmother’s necklaces!”

“It is?” Blake sounded genuinely curious, which didn’t earn him any favors.

“Don’t be so casual about it you scoundrel!” The poodle shouted back. “Of all the nerve! Stealing from someone else’s house when they’re under attack!”

“Hey, the robots weren’t attacking when I came in.” The rabbit just shrugged, clearly having decided there was no point in lying anymore. “If I knew Eggman’s tin cans were going to show up, I wouldn’t have bothered. I’m not suicidal. I like to keep my hide intact thanks.”

“So why did you help us, then?” Gadget asked. He clearly remembered hearing him grumble about it being a bad idea to get involved. 

The rabbit stopped short at that, staring at the wolf, “Ah, that’s-”

“He probably just wanted to save his own skin,” Corvin concluded, narrowing his eyes at Blake.

Gadget glanced over at Corvin. He didn’t think that sounded right, but he didn’t say anything either.

Blake also chose not to argue with that, “Does it matter why? I did help, didn’t I?” He turned back to Pearl, “Besides, it’s just some gaudy necklace. Pretty sure rich types like you have a million of those things lying around. Meanwhile, guys like me need to find a way to eat somehow. Can’t you cut a guy some slack Princess?” 

Pearl fumed, “Perhaps you could try making an honest living then!” She snapped back, “And that’s not just a necklace and certainly isn’t gaudy. It’s a priceless family heirloom!”

Blake rolled his eyes, “Fine. Keep it then. You still owe me for helping out the rescue party.” 

“Do we?” Jenna raised an eye ridge at the thief.

“Lady, if it weren’t for me, your son would be a whole lot worse off than he is right now.” The thief replied. 

Jenna and Pearl looked at Gadget again, who ducked his head. “H-he’s telling the truth. Some robots almost got the jump on me before he showed up.”

Blake looked satisfied. “There, you see? How about letting me off the hook just this once? I’m sure you guys have bigger eggs to fry anyway.” 

“Oh, I’m not letting you “off the hook” that easily.” Pearl growled at him, “Just because you saved the life of my maid’s son doesn’t mean I should just let you get off scot-free after trying to steal from my house. How foolish do you think I am?”

“What are you going to do with him?” Fuchsia asked, “With the way things are right now, it’s not like you can just have him arrested.” 

At that moment, however, Espio glanced up to see that Private Flynn had come back to join them along with the household servants. He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “I’d hate to interrupt, but there’s a very good chance that Dr. Eggman will be sending reinforcements when he realizes that this manor hasn’t been captured. If you want to evacuate your people before they arrive, Miss Pearl, we’re going to have to get moving soon.” 

This was enough to get Pearl to stop glaring at Blake as she returned her attention to Espio, looking concerned. “Oh goodness, you’re right!” But then she quickly shot another glare at the thief, “You’re coming with us then!” 

“What? Hey, wait a second!” But Espio just nodded to two resistance soldiers who had come over when they noticed what was going on, who grabbed Blake and lead him away. 

Espio then turned his attention to Gadget, Fuchsia, and Corvin. “You three should leave as well. Thank you again for your help.”

“But… where are you going to take them?” Gadget asked, glancing at his mother.

“To a resistance safe house. They’ll be well protected there, so you don’t need to worry.” The chameleon paused as he looked the young wolf over, “You may join us if you don’t wish to be separated from your mother.”

“We’re going too then.” Fuchsia chimed in.

Corvin shrugged, the medic who’d been patching him up had finally left him alone as the resistance soldiers were getting ready to move. “We were planning on joining the resistance ourselves anyway.”  


Espio nodded in understanding. “Very well, we could use all the help we can get of course.” He stepped forward and handed a piece of paper to Fuchsia. “Be sure not to lose this. When you’re ready, this will tell you where you need to go in order to meet up with our people so we can take you to our base.” 

“Thanks,” Fuchsia grinned and quickly stowed the paper away, “Don’t worry I’ll keep this safe.” 

The chameleon stepped back, bowing his head, “I suppose I’ll be seeing you there then.” He turned his attention back to his troops, “Alright, we need to get these people to safety as quickly as possible! You all know the drill by now.”

As the resistance soldiers began taking the servants and Pearl away, Jenna gave her son a quick hug. “I’ll see you soon. Please be careful.”

“You too mom.” Gadget moved out of the hug after a moment, still looking a bit anxious as he watched his mother leave with the resistance and the other servants. Fuchsia put a hand on his shoulder.

“C’mon we should go too.” She said, “We need to grab our stuff.”

“Though couldn’t you just go with them right now?” Corvin narrowed his eyes at the wolf suspiciously.

Gadget fidgeted, “Uh, I need to grab some of my stuff too.” He also had some things he wanted to think about, now that that ordeal was over.

With that, the trio went to make their own exit, heading back home.

As they made their way safely out of the manor and back towards their home neighborhood, Gadget hung back a few steps behind the other two, still deep in thought.

His thoughts kept straying back to the fight in the manor and that lead to him thinking about the day the city was attacked by that terrifying masked creature who worked for Eggman. He’d felt so useless after running away from that fight, but just now, he actually had been able to help. Even if it was only just a little. He didn’t know if he’d really made that much of a difference, but he still hadn’t run away this time. 

“...”

“Hey, Gadget, are you okay?” Fuchsia stopped and looked back when she noticed Gadget lagging behind them.

The wolf looked up, “Y-yeah, I’m alright. I was just thinking...”

“Oh? About what?” Corvin tilted his head at the other. 

“I think maybe…” He hesitated a moment, then set his jaw determinedly as he looked at his two best friends.

“I think I want to join the resistance after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also posting chapters up on Tumblr if anyone is interested.
> 
> https://sonicforcesdiamondsquad.tumblr.com/


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